Are Escapist members anti-American?
- Thread starter KarmicToast
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Any different than Americans on the street blaming everything on (insert ethnic group)?KarmicToast said:
It's mostly true though. We're raised in a society were emotional responses are highly encouraged to be emotional(any idea how many times I've been told I don't laugh/smile enough?), see enough hardship on the news that we can ignore most things and appear uncaring, and there are stupid people all over the world, but the american media just shows a lot of Darwin award candidates/future candidates.
I'm American. I love being American. But I've been in enough situations that I see these things that people from other countries see. The question shouldn't be "Why won't these people stop bashing my country," but "How can I be a better representative of my country and encourage others to be the same?"
We weren't talking about historical accountability. Though to address one aspect of the matter; there's a huge difference between relating people in a country to other people and events within their lifetimes, or a generation or two back, and to do the same going back 500+ years, especially considering the borders of most European countries have changed considerably since then.Mornelithe said:
This idea of linking people so closely with the country they live in is one of the main problems with this whole argument. As someone stated earlier, why are we not all "people"? Why do you get so defensive over land and an imagined entity?
Regarding Tony Blair; he has been widely criticised, and he was pressured to leave office due to many of the issues that existed at that time, his following of Bush being one.
If, by "standing up and putting a stop" to him, you mean some sort of revolution, of course not. He wasn't the best PM we've ever had, but he wasn't the worst. Even if he was, it would take a hell of a lot to warrant that. If you didn't mean that, then I believe that "we" did stand up. It may have taken time, but the people spoke, were listened to and change was made in an at least largely democratic way.
I think you'll find that many British people are very good at self-criticism.
Yes. If it is immediately obvious that someone or something is to blame, I will blame it. If nothing is obvious, I won't.Sparrow Tag said:
Well, planet destroying is a bit more extreme than what most of us have experienced, I think we can cut them a bit of slack.
No. That isn't equality. The only way that racism will ever be stopped is if we stop thinking of people as belonging to groups based on their race. At the moment, all we've done is switched the balance around - nobody can touch 'minorities' or women, while white males are fair game.Sparrow Tag said:
The problem is that we're still grouping people, and as long as people are grouped then we will characterise the group as a whole (google 'monkeysphere' - essentially, we can only maintain relationships (as in, see as full-fledged people) with a few hundred to a thousand-odd people at once. Beyond that, we stereotype to let our brains cope. We know our neighbourhood, and people in the public spotlight, and then individuals that are brought to our attention, but beyond that we're limited to thinking of 'the chinese', or 'americans', or whatever). With racism, we're nicely creating the groups for ourselves, and while even the staunchest Klansman will probably admit that he knows a black person who could be called a friend, this probably won't interact with nor affect the ciew of 'black people' in his mind. The man becomes seperate from the group.
We can't change that, it's how our brains (seem to) work. What we can do is direct it. Working towards it the way we have been doing; swapping negative discrimination for positive in an effort to balance the books; may well appeal to our sense of fair play, but it ultimately does more harm than good. It perpetuates groupings, and fosters jealousy and discrimination in the newly ignored groups.
But hey, that's a bit off-topic, really. This is (another) USA thread, not a racism thread.
With America, a lot of it isn't the people themselves, it's the USA's foreign policy and attitude towards other countries. You export culture (bad TV, invasive companies, marketing styles, etc), and expect it to be accepted. In a way, it's like the new kid in a group, pushing and pushing to make the others see him as just as good (or better) than they are. The patriotism doesn't help much either - to outsiders all it looks like is arrogance (and that's pretty much what patriotism boils down to anyway).
Governments and countries play along with American culture, because it gives them access to another few hundred million customers. What the people see is that America is once again trying to make everywhere else into mini-Americas. It breeds resentment.
The paranoia that a lot of Americans seem to have against people being 'anti-american' seems a littl pathetic to me. How insecure must you be to needs constant assurance that people don't hate you? And to lash out so much (and so publically - I'm thinking of that little incident where google was accused of being anti-american for daring to use another nation's holiday/event instead of an American one) at people who aren't so patriotic.
So yeah. People don't 'hate' America right now - it's more a sort of dislike - but I can see it growing into hate if things carry on as they have been.
It isn't really a stereotype to point out that United States Citizens are fat. This is not a generalization, it is a fact. We are fat. Through various studies, it is has been conclusively demonstrated that the U.S. has a higher obesity rate than pretty much any other country.
But at the same time, can you really blame us for this? For starters, the U.S. has more food than almost any other country. This is also a fact. The U.S.'s agricultural industry is easily one of the most powerful and productive in the world. We create an unholy amount of produce every year. Any hunger in the U.S. is a result of poverty and lack of funds, not a lack of supply. Our government actually pays some farmers NOT to produce food. If our agriculture industry really stepped up production, it would be able to self-destruct through plummeting prices due to too much supply. With enough disposable income, any U.S. citizen can eat as much as they want, without ever having to fear for diminishing supply. We have virtually unlimited renewable food.
On top of that, we also have one of the world's best entertainment industries. This is much more subjective, it really is a matter of opinion. But however much the rest of the world might criticize the U.S., most of it agrees that our entertainment industry is great.
As such, the U.S. is providing its citizens with more food than they can actually eat, and enough leisure programming to keep their asses glued to the couch all day long...
...Hmmmmm....I think I'm beginning to see why the rest of the world likes to critcize us.
But at the same time, can you really blame us for this? For starters, the U.S. has more food than almost any other country. This is also a fact. The U.S.'s agricultural industry is easily one of the most powerful and productive in the world. We create an unholy amount of produce every year. Any hunger in the U.S. is a result of poverty and lack of funds, not a lack of supply. Our government actually pays some farmers NOT to produce food. If our agriculture industry really stepped up production, it would be able to self-destruct through plummeting prices due to too much supply. With enough disposable income, any U.S. citizen can eat as much as they want, without ever having to fear for diminishing supply. We have virtually unlimited renewable food.
On top of that, we also have one of the world's best entertainment industries. This is much more subjective, it really is a matter of opinion. But however much the rest of the world might criticize the U.S., most of it agrees that our entertainment industry is great.
As such, the U.S. is providing its citizens with more food than they can actually eat, and enough leisure programming to keep their asses glued to the couch all day long...
...Hmmmmm....I think I'm beginning to see why the rest of the world likes to critcize us.
I'd advise anyone who can to live in another country, I suppose going Uni in Aberystwyth counts. Living in another culture, addapting, taking in different experiences, seeing other peoples perspectives. It really opens your eyes and helpps you to develop. Go for it, you'll love it. Houston was great but i prefered Austin. Well worth a visit.CrashBang said:
Aaand this is why everyone hates Americans.Mornelithe said:
"We have a problem here and now."
"Yeah, well back when neither of us were alive, people who are now dead had a problem with people who are now dead!"
I hate the following kinds of Americans;
Religious nuts - primarily Christian and Atheist. I've never been told I'm evil (or, in the case of Atheists, misguided and stupid) by an American Sikh.
Gun nuts - the ones that spout off about home defence while gushing about sniper rifles. There's no way you need more than a pistol for home defence.
The ones who go on about World War 2 - it's already happened in this thread. Americans who believe they single-handedly won World War 2, and that us poor little rest of the world couldn't possibly have won by ourselves.*
American politicians - just... In general, really. This also applies to people who can't get it into their heads that democracy may not be the best system. Or that they're actually living in a republic.
Most Americans I've met/talked to have been alright, but, like with everything, enough bullshit will wear you down. As an example, most people have good impressions of Canadians for exactly the opposite reasons - they start at the same level, but most outspoken Canadians are generally nicer and more level headed.
* - I actually have started laughing this one off, seeing as my last house was older than the U.S.A., and was cheap, shitty student housing. I think it's a lack of history talking more than people actually believing that, but it does negatively affect impressions of America.
That's exactly the reason why I wanna move. I feel sorry for people who decide to stay in the country (or even worse, the city) that they were born and raised in for their entire lives. They have no idea what else is out there! And I can't wait to experience it!bjj hero said:
We do get every where. Normally I avoid using the word "duck" and hope no one notices.jimborious said:
Thats XBL, it is not reprasentative of real life. If you live in America the people are polite and quite like the British. The women can't resist the accent, you don't even have to try. Or maybe thats just Texas where the majority of the Americans I have met and known live.StigmataDiaboli said:
And avoiding phrases like "i'm off up 'anley" helps to. not refering to everyone as 'Kid' or 'Youth' help to, those are regardless of age it seems, i got called kid by a lad of about 12 yesterday, which was strange given that i'm 23.
You know, it probably wouldn't be quite so bad if half the country weren't utter tools. I'm serious. Last time I checked close to 50% of this country believes in some form of strict creationism. Seriously, roughly half? I hope to God I'm wrong on this point, but we did have a state ban evolution from the school tests over this issue.
Half of this country has no problems with complete malarkey to the point of attempting to ban real science from the classroom. I'll even go so far as to say some form of creationism makes sense. Not empirical sense but certainly philosophical.
Strict creationism? This didn't get flung out the window with the flat-earthers? So half of this country's citizens are basically retarded gits, thereby making any stereotype half right. That's right folks, this country is full of stupid, and we institutionalized it to boot. Please flame away, America still needs it.
Half of this country has no problems with complete malarkey to the point of attempting to ban real science from the classroom. I'll even go so far as to say some form of creationism makes sense. Not empirical sense but certainly philosophical.
Strict creationism? This didn't get flung out the window with the flat-earthers? So half of this country's citizens are basically retarded gits, thereby making any stereotype half right. That's right folks, this country is full of stupid, and we institutionalized it to boot. Please flame away, America still needs it.